Arts Commission - Bylaws Subcommittee - Regular Meeting

So it's 5 o'clock. I'm going to get the meeting started. The May 20, 2026, City of Joliet Arts Commission meeting. Start out with roll call.

Commissioner Filato? Here. Commissioner Franks-Tapley?

Here.

Commissioner Romano?

Here.

Commissioner Rosati? Here. Commissioner Simpson?

Here.

Commissioner Summers? Commissioner Voling is not coming. And then...

I'm here.

Yes, I know. Stoiber. Stoiber. Yes. Peg. Okay. Commissioner Stoiber? Here. And then...

Commission chairperson Katosky here Approval of meeting minutes from 218 we don't have an attachment here Can be pulled up on the screen I'm on this screen here

I don't have an iPad Does anybody have the attachment No, I reviewed them I mean, I know they'd be approved unless you need to see him

I mean, I don't need to see them, but in case anybody else did, we want to have the opportunity. I looked ahead of time. It's fine.

Okay, I'll second that.

Okay. Citizens be heard on agenda items. We have nobody here.

We need to vote on that. What's that? We don't need to vote.

Oh, you need approval. You need to vote. We need to vote on approval in a minute. Sorry about that. It's been a while since we've had a meeting.

Commissioner Filato?

Yes.

Commissioner Franks-Tapley? Yes. Commissioner Romano? Yes. Romero, sorry. It's okay. Commissioner Simpson?

Yes.

I should put my glasses on.

Commissioner Struber?

Yes.

Commissioner Summers?

She's not here.

Oh, she's not here. OK. Commissioner Bowling?

She's not here.

Oh, she's not here. And then Chairperson Gutrowski?

Yes. OK, we can move on now. So election of the Arts Commissioner Chair. Do we have anybody that wants to take that position over?

How about you, Donna? How about you? You want it? Okay.

John? Ron? Nobody wants it. I will stay on. There's no objections to it for another year. What do we have to do with this?

I was looking through the bylaws here. I saw an old bylaw that said you could run for two runs, but the one that's on the website for the city says that you could do it year after year, so I don't know what our interpretation is. I suppose the other thing we could do is... Can we ratify that if we have a two-thirds vote? So that if we all decide Tom's the guy?

Has he done it twice?

No. No, you've had two?

No, one. Oh, I had one. So they're good.

Yeah, never mind. All good. I'll make a motion.

I'll move to Florida with you.

It's a long way to a motion. Sorry about that.

OK, so we need to vote on it. Katie?

Commissioner Filato?

Yes.

All right. Commissioner Franks-Tapley? Aye. Commissioner Romero? Yes. I'm going to butcher your name 40 times tonight.

Call me Ron.

Commissioner Simpson?

Yes.

Commissioner Stoiber yes that passes correct yep because we have five voting members here correct yeah congratulations Tom Hopefully I'll be able to get more involved because I won't have as much hectic of a schedule this year as I've had in the past. So I'd like to see the growth here. So we need a vice chair also. Right now it's Donna, correct? Yes. So does anybody want that position? You want to keep it?

Yeah, okay.

You're fine with that? Good.

I'll make a motion to... Motion by Ron, seconded by...

I'll second.

Okay. Let's get a vote on that.

Move nominations be closed.

Commissioner flotto Commissioner Franks tapley commit Commissioner Ron. Yes Commissioner Simpson. Yes Commissioner Stryber.

Yes Okay Staff comments discussion of new Arts Commission members and is that gonna go to Luke or Luke do you want to introduce yourself first I don't know if you've talked to everybody yet I know we had a meeting okay I haven't had a chance to have a meeting with you yet individually so

That's too bad. This is my last meeting. That's probably why I haven't had a chance to.

This is your opportunity right now.

On the record.

So as Tom said, I was making my rounds, trying to have a meeting with each of you individually, mainly just to go over who I am, introductions, stuff like that. But very quickly, I am the new special events coordinator for the city of Joliet. I started April 13. So I'm just over a month now in the new position. And that's essentially the introduction portion. What we can do is for the staff comments, I do have a presentation that I'll go through, and it'll touch on the points that we have under here for the discussion for the new arts commission members, the murals, and then discussion of the new art submission guidelines. It's all kind of in my presentation for this, so if you guys don't mind, I'll just kind of run through the presentation that I have here prepared. It does touch on a lot of other things as well. Just kind of giving some updates to the city square initiatives that we've been pushing forward and and kind of giving some more details of where we're at with that. Including some dates of some upcoming events. And things like that. And then just kind of reiterating some of the other 2026 Art Commission priorities. So I'll just kind of dive right in here. And we have Ann here, so she can feel free to cut me off anytime she wants. If I say something wrong or she wants to add some more details to some of the initiatives and stuff that we're doing here. So, City Square activation. Our goal is to position City Square as Joliet's central gathering place for downtown Joliet. We are, as you'll see in the presentation, we are building some great event series, weekly, bi-monthly, and then some marquee events to help activate the downtown space. We continue to deepen the relationships with the downtown businesses, and then some of the cultural partners and stuff that are helping us with some of the events and programs that we have down there. go over some of the weekly programming. So we have workouts in the square. Those are starting up here soon. June 2nd being our first event, and it's going to run weekly. It's going to run weekly all the way until August 25th. We're going to have a different kind of workout going on in the square at the stage area and utilizing the turf grass there. Dancing in the Square, that's an evening dance instruction. That is actually next, or two weeks from now, I should say. I keep thinking it's next week. June 3rd, and then that runs from June 3rd to August 26th. And then we also have the Chicago Street Farmers Market. That event is actually starting this Friday, this Friday from 10 to 2. That will run weekly as well from May 22nd through September 18th. Then we have our Sounds on 66, which is our music series. It's a free outdoor concert featuring local and regional talent. So that will be starting on June 5th, running through August 28th. As you can see, the first week in June is pretty busy here in the city square. Then we also have some family story time, which is our partnership with the Joliet Public Library. That will run on Wednesdays, June, July, and August from 1030 to 11. And that will be in the secondary side stage at the city square. Some of our monthly and bi-monthly programming that we are doing at City Square is we have movies in the square. We will be doing a movie night. This is a monthly feature that we're going to be doing. The dates we have listed for this right now is June 23rd, July 14th, and August 4th for the movies in the square. There will be more information and stuff on what the showings and stuff soon on that. Cars and guitars. This is classic cars and live music. This is in partnership with the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum. Our first one is June 4th, on Thursday, June 4th. And then the next one is June 18th. Then it's July 2nd, July 16th. And then the last one is August 6th. This is more of a biweekly programming that we have down in City Square. I mentioned some of the family performances from the library. We have a magician coming in and doing a performance, as well as some other programming with the library as well. I forget the name of it. There's a silly musician guy who comes in and will do something with that as well. And then some marquee events that we have that are coming up. I still have the Route 66 May 1st through May 3rd. That passed, but we did a music night. And then on May 3rd, we coordinated with Rialto and we did a mini golf and DJ in the square as the Rialto was doing their event across the street. We have some annual events that will be taking place. We have Star Wars Days. Star Wars Days will be on June 6th this year, and that's in partnership with the library. And then we have Kids Fest, which is August 1st. Then we still have the Light Up the Holidays parade. The one coming up, we have Race Fan Rally. Race Fan Rally will be July 2nd. That will also be on the same day that we have cars and guitars as well. We actually just did our Memorial Day celebration today. It went very well. A great turnout, great turnout for an afternoon, especially. Great speeches, a great event for the community, especially in the downtown area. We have our official City Square dedication. That'll be on June 18th at noon, and we are inviting all of our arts commissioners to please join us, because we will be having the artist And I am really bad at saying names, and this is recording, so... Sija Chen. Thank you. She will be on site for the June 18th event. So we'd really appreciate it if all the Arts Commissioners can show up and help make that event a success and show your support. Then we have the City Square opening weekend celebration. That will take place June 26 and 27. And we will be having a drone show in a part of that as well as multiple different events that will be going out throughout both days. We'll get a schedule and more information about that soon. A quick update. If you haven't been out there, the project is complete. The dome is up. We took some great pictures today during the Memorial Day celebration with the flowered wreath that we have out there just for today as part of that celebration. So it was great to showcase the Unity Dome, especially at one of our first events that we have for Memorial Day. So discussion of new arts commissioner members. So what we're asking is we are, and I mentioned it to each of you in our individual meetings, we're continuing to recruit for new commissioners and encourage local residents with interest in arts to apply and participate in our commission. So I put a picture up of just how to do it. On the boards and commission page, there is an apply section. Just all they would have to need to do is apply through there if you know somebody who would be interested. That is a good question. I have not had a chance.

Residency? So it's usually for boards and commissions within Joliet, it's either resident or you're working or involved in some way, shape, or form with the city of Joliet is usually how it works. So if you work within the city of Joliet, if you're, you know, around the area like that's usually how yeah right you know Tom doesn't live in the city of Joliet either you know I mean it's that's you know it's that's right long as you're involved with the city of Joliet you know you have a vested interest within the city of Joliet that's usually how boards and commissions work how many positions are open so we have nine total seats and we have

believe I believe we have five filled because some people are leaving like this as pegs so we hope we'll have five after this week so we have four open positions who's leaving yeah that's okay who's the other two is depth is Deb falling leaving Let me look at my email that I sent.

I thought I saw it. Yeah.

There was two people who were finishing. They were completing. And then there's also one person, I believe it's her name, Julia, who's actually never attended. So we're going to work on figuring out how to make that position available.

Okay. I'm confused. So... people whose terms expired I'm one of them yeah we have to reappoint you as well assuming you're interested in continuing I thought we had that discussion I thought it was brought up at the last City Council meeting that's not the case

At the last council meeting?

Yes.

It was. Last two weeks ago, whatever that was. Yeah.

Okay.

I mean, I thought so.

Because they all voted on it. I mean, that's what I heard.

The council voted on it. Yeah. That you were coming back.

Yeah. And then I.

You made reappointments.

Yeah. And Peg, but.

But they probably didn't know that I wasn't.

Right. But I'm just trying to find out how many positions are open. I believe it was four. So I'm not on it yet. Is that the case?

No, including you, it would be four available positions, five currently on the board with you, assuming the other people were dropping off. There was five, so we had four spots.

Okay. So that Julia Rosati is not? No.

No. No. We need to work through, I don't know what the right word is, legally. We need to work through the process to off-board her because she's never attended a meeting. But we are anticipating that position to become available.

I think it's three meetings. You missed three meetings. It's unexcused. Yes.

I think there's just a notification process that we need to make sure we follow to do that.

And then is that the case with Deb Bolling, too? I'm just trying to look at this list and see where those four openings are. Who's on?

Give me a second to look up my email, then.

I thought Deb Bolling was on.

Luke, I sent this one. This is the one that you and I were working off of.

Yes. So what I have is Deborah Summers has expired it looks like in five three peg yours yours expires and you're not returning correct

I found the email, Luke, if you want me to read through it. Sure. Okay. So what I have, based on what I have for current terms, Ron Romero is still continued. Donna Franks Tapley expires February of 26, so still the commission.

February 26? That's passed.

Excuse me, reappointed.

Thank you. I'm looking at the wrong date. John expired as of May 3, and will be reappointed. Deb Filato. I need to find out your date, because did you get extended after December? Yours expires December of 26. So you're good for a while. Deborah Vohling actually expires May of 27. So I currently have her on here. And then Tom, June of 27. So six, including Deborah, assuming she wants to continue. Because I had Peg coming off as well.

And Deb Summers is also on.

Correct.

So there's three openings, right?

Yes. So there's three except for possibly Deb Boland.

And what's the timeline for, you know, I see that, you know, this here for applying and stuff.

What's the deadline?

Is there a deadline?

I believe it's a rolling application.

I see.

All right. Yeah. So we can encourage you and others to apply because it does need to go through council. So that's not a two-day process. It's probably a two-month process.

I believe... I thought in the beginning there was three or four appointments, excuse me, five appointments by our mayor and four by the governor, not the Kate. Kate?

I know that exists with Rialto.

I've never heard of that for our boards and commissions, Katie. I don't believe that's the case for this commission.

I can look.

I can. I might have that confused with. I can look at the bottles again, but I don't believe that is the case with this commission.

All right.

I'm sorry.

So we basically need three as of right now. I have mentioned. What's her name? Beverly Wines. I actually talked to her husband on a fluke. We were at a different meeting, and he told me to contact her. So I think she would be a good addition to us. She's gone all summer.

She's gone all summer. She's going to be in Montana because I talked to her Saturday night.

Gotcha. So maybe after summer, she'd be interested in coming on. I don't know. But I know that there are some other people out there that we could get involved.

Have we had anybody apply? OK.

Not that I'm aware of. I think maybe what we can do is, Luke, maybe you and I put together an email to the commissioners that kind of, you know, says we're looking for some people and the link to it for you guys to be able to send out because anyone who is interested does need to go through that application process. Even if you recommend them, they have to go through the application process.

Cause I was, I was thinking too about this, you know, we don't have anybody from the schools on, um, and we have such a great art program through, through our local schools. As a matter of fact, we're gonna be talking about Hufford and Gompers here shortly. but we don't have any representation from the local schools and we have an awful lot of young artists that their teachers could be a real good asset to us.

Especially the high schools, too.

Yeah, the high schools, especially, yeah. But just to think about where we want art commissioners to come from, somebody that's invested in the community and invested in the arts, and where do we want to target? So if you have some ideas between the both of you, I think that would be a good thing to send us some information about what you're exactly looking for. I know we're an arts commission. We are a volunteer organization here within the city of Joliet. So when we want to take our time to help out the city, we'd like to know what you're looking for and what direction that we should head so that we're not doing things for nothing.

i think it's important that if we're going to go after new art commissioners just my personal opinion that um i think we need to take a hard look at what the arts commission is because we seem to be lost right now i mean we have been for a couple of years that i've been on here we've got no funding we've got no projects we're now uh being you know our our agendas reports rather than us bringing ideas to the commission for approval it's it's kind of a nothing commission right now and i think there's a i said it before tom said this there's a lot of talent on it here and there's a lot of people that want to do there's the commission supposed to be made up of business people and arts people and there's some people in my opinion here that have been very tolerant getting a meeting in every couple of months coming to meetings and voting on really nothing important and we see arch projects going on in the city that we're not involved in the ones we are involved in we don't get invited to so I hate to to be harsh with my language here but But truth be told, if you're going to go after anybody else, you might want to, I think we need to decide what the Arts Commission is before other people leave or before we invite somebody on here. It doesn't make sense for the people to come here every so often and vote on really nothing that's nothing.

that we haven't put ourselves into. I agree. And, you know, the city council of Joliet, we don't have anybody associated with our Arts Commission from the City Council. They don't know what we're doing here. The City Council has no idea that we're sitting here in limbo with no funding, no projects to take on, and how do we get the City Council involved in our commission? Assuming that every other board and commission with the city. There's somebody from the council Involved with them and that's how information gets out to other city council members Does that make any sense to anybody that we don't have that liaison? I? think that it's kind of an important matter and We do need direction. We need good direction in this because we want to see the city beautified. You know, you go to different places, beautiful art all over. I just spent seven weeks in the Dallas area and there's art around Dallas that you just wouldn't believe. And the deepest, darkest places, like a community called Deep Ellum, where two people get shot in a single night at nightclubs and they have to shut down the city. The art within that little tiny community is beautiful.

We're the third largest city in the state and we're probably like a hundredth in arts Like we're not we're not even We're not getting any artwork done, and I think there's a lot of people to try Yeah, I think I'm being very generous.

We don't have any budget either for it. And how do we get this? I know that Grants are out there. We don't have any grants that have been awarded to us that I know of and

What's the status of grant application?

It should be on our... Yeah, we don't have any.

Well, they're working on it, maybe. I don't know.

It would be nice to be updated. And one of the things that we had been talking about for a very long time has been, are we allowed to get sponsors, do fundraising, do something where we can raise money to offset the cost of, we can't live on grants, because I think our last grant was what, $5,500 or $5,000? We've asked that question for a couple of years now. And we're not getting that answer. What are we allowed to do? Right now, we're just kind of being held at bay. Show up to the meetings Acknowledgement yeah, and I'm sorry to beat the dead horse It's already been beaten to death over and over again but that arts policy that we public arts policy that Peg and I put hours into and days into and Brought to the Commission and everybody voted on on deaf ears. I know you brought it up again the other day you you had something in your hand to look at and But I mean, that's just a prime example of putting in hard work here at the Arts Commission, and one, falling on deaf ears, and two, there's no mobility. We haven't been mobilized, anything that we try to do. So I would suggest, going back to the conversation here, before we start looking for other arts commissioners, and if you look at the history of the Arts Commission, there have been a lot of people that have joined and left within a very short time. And I think there's a lot of people up here who are very tolerant and have been waiting and hopeful that something is going to happen. But I think that's wearing very thin as well. So before we go looking for somebody else, I suggest we take a good hard look at what we're doing here. and maybe have some of the questions answered that we've been asking. What are we doing for funding? What are we doing? Can we get sponsors? Can we do fundraising? Can we go back to bringing suggestions of what we want to see from the arts community? We're supposed to be in touch with the local arts community who have ideas for the city. But that kind of falls on deaf ears too. So I'd say let's take a look at what we are and what we're doing and figure out what our mission is here before we invite anybody else.

And that has to come from the city telling us what their expectations are.

Well, I would think that would come from us as a recommendation to the city to vote on.

I do agree with that, but just like in anything else, I happen to be in a position where I'm looking for a job right now. Every place I go, here's a handout of what this job entails. We don't really have that here. We don't have anything set in stone like this. If you want to become an Arts Commission member, this is what you need to do. This is what you need to know. This is our policy. This is what we've created as a volunteer group here for a beautiful city, a city that everybody's totally involved in.

most of us have been around the city of Joliet forever Deb right Are our policies and bylaws and everything else do they see that when they apply I don't know if they see that on this I don't know I'm asking I haven't obviously done that but Well I know the founders that created the Commission had an outline of what they wanted this to be there was bylaws that do exist and

It's like they're just completely being ignored right now. We have to decide if that exists, if we need to modify those bylaws, or what we're going to do. Because, I mean, I appreciate having a meeting. This would be our second meeting of the year, and so far we voted on who's going to be the chairman. So it's not really worth our while to do this. I think we could all be helpful in the arts community doing other things.

Yeah.

We could probably get stuff done.

Why don't we give Ann or Luke a chance to respond?

Sure, I'll start. Thank you, Ron. I always appreciate the feedback and the comments. And thank you to everyone for your patience. I know that when I met with you and came on board, it's got to be close to nine months ago. I was very excited about working with this group and figuring out kind of how we can strategize and move forward. It has taken longer than I would have anticipated for a variety of different reasons and a variety of different priorities. And I'm very glad that Luke is on board to help with this. I agree with you. I do think we need to take a very hard look at this, go through the bylaws, figure out a strategy moving forward. Ron, you made a comment about how you used to be able to bring up ideas to talk about at the commission. I didn't realize that that was an option. Is that something that you don't feel that you can communicate to Luke or myself to be on the agenda? I'm not familiar with that process, so I'm not sure how it fell off. And I definitely want to make sure we're hearing from you about what those ideas might be. I also know that you know when I started that the budget for 2026 was already completed and I understand and agree that the grants has been challenging not just for this commission But I think you guys can probably agree and I know you've seen all across the United States unfortunately the funding for the arts has significantly decreased and We do have our grants person, Becky, who has come in here before. I'll make sure that she's included, at least providing a report back for things. She does let us know if there are any opportunities, but I'll make sure the Arts Commission, Luke, will make sure that we've got a report back from Becky moving forward for every meeting to see, just to tell you what she's working on, if there's anything she's applied for in the status of things. And then for the arts policy and guidelines, I know that Jane and Ray had kind of provided some updates a couple of meetings ago, and Luke and I did meet with them and talk to them about it. All that hard work did not go unnoticed. I believe that what Jane and what we're looking to do is in order to actually create that public art policy, we need to have kind of guidelines and kind of figure out where it fits within the ordinance for the city of Joliet is the feedback that I've received that we need to do. So it's kind of a combination of both. And it's on us for the city to figure out what that part is. And I think now that Luke is aware of it, we're going to be, and I'm assuming he talked to you about it, kind of taking offline a group of people to help revisit that and get that across the finish line. That's definitely one of the priorities that we had. I am hoping that with the opening of City Square, we now have spaces for artists to actually be at. I know in previous iterations of this talked about an artist registry so that we can choose from people and allow people to be able to participate in that too. I hear you. I know that there's a lot of ideas. I think creating a, I mean, Tom, a position description isn't a bad idea. People do need to know what they're getting into. And the founders of this probably had a different idea than what was ultimately we've been working with today. So Luke and I will take a look at that as well and give it to you guys for feedback.

Well, I appreciate that myself, because I think the communication is really, really important to all of us here. Because we hear, like even taking down that mural that was on the parking deck, you know, we heard about it, but we heard about it the day that it started.

Yeah, so did I. It was September, then it was June, and then it was Tuesday. So apologies for that. I was actually planning on updating you at this meeting, but we found out right before it happened that it had been bumped up. But I did want to make sure you knew about it, so sorry for that.

Yeah, and I just mean that as a general thing. That's the closest thing that's happened, but communications between all of us as arts commissioners.

There's a nice... beautiful list of all the things that are happening in City Square. Is art a part of any of them?

I'm looking to incorporate artists as part of them.

We do also have... I know music is... I didn't mean that. Visual arts, yes. And just... And, you know, anything like... Even the days they were constructing the dome or they had dedication, I know you've got, and I get it on social media and stuff, but if it's anything to do with art, if somebody can send a blast out to the commission, I don't know if everybody looks at the stuff. It's nice if something we're involved in, if we just get noticed, and not to give you one more thing to do, but just so you know we know about it as a group as opposed to everybody just whenever they get a chance to looking at the you know the new events page be nice you know it applies to us that's all but John has reached out to me the opening weekend that Friday Saturday to have artists down there so if anybody wants to participate I'm kind of trying to set up a schedule All right. Well, and I didn't know that.

Well, no, it just happened.

Okay, all right, good, all right. It just happened in the last few days.

So if I can comment really quickly on City Square. So I have been saying from the beginning I've created basic programming. So I've got the Tuesday workouts, Wednesday dance, Friday concerts, and that's kind of the base. Anything, and then, and it's almost all programmed, right? We're getting there. Anything on top of that, I'm looking to kind of start filling in now. One of the other conversations I've had with City Center Partnership, and I think I kind of had with Deb a little bit offhand, is I'm having challenges figuring out how to activate that smaller stage. I've been trying to work with City Center Partnership to work with their – The members to maybe activate it or I knew I threw out at one point dab like having somebody come and do an art class something like that Unfortunately City Center partnership was short-staffed So many well didn't we get it off as quickly as I would have liked as well But there's there is an opportunity there and I am very open to ideas on how we can incorporate art into City Square. I

Guess another thing and it's probably before you were here in but I think the city what for the first time had a Comprehend, you know several, you know six months worth of comprehensive meetings on all kinds of different stuff We went to him. I know art was a big part of that. They hired, you know an advisor or whatever you call it to comment I'd like to see what some of the results of some of that was some what some of the ideas there was a lot of artists there at different times you know and I think this is in particular the downtown comprehensive plan but you know be nice to see what the results of that was and you know what the city's thoughts about incorporating some of that Like I say, I think we might have been here for part of it. But anyway, just wondering where that status was.

Yeah, the comprehensive plan, Jane is providing updates that are open to the public. But what I can ask her to do is maybe either attend a meeting or kind of pull out specific elements that might be more appropriate. But I definitely encourage you to go, like, there's a very in-depth comprehensive plan kind of website. And some of that report back is in there. And they have some summaries, I believe, that might have some of the information you're talking about. But we can ask Jane to kind of pull specifically what might be relevant for this committee.

Yeah, it'd be nice if we could get an update as a commission as opposed to each individual finding time to look at it. That's all I mean.

Yeah.

All right. So what is the point?

We get zero money and no support. And I just want to be clear that it's, you know, my brutal comments are not aimed at anybody here. This is frustration that goes on way before you guys got here. And our first hope was when you got here and we were like, ah, fresh, you know, fresh blood, somebody who's going to do something for us. And the city immediately pulled you into 10 million pieces, different directions. And I think I recognize, and I'm sure we all recognize that you were doing that. And now you've got some help here to do this. But going back to my original comments, I hear a lot over and over again, we have to wait for the city or Jane or whoever it is to make decisions, and we have to see what they're doing. My understanding when I came on with this was we were going to give our ideas. We were going to meet with the public. We were going to try to bring some artists in to do projects. We wanted to talk about funding and making things happen. On how many years I've been here and people here that have been here longer than me, How much has actually been accomplished since the Arts Commission was actually put into play? That's the thing. And going back to my statement, I don't think we can ask anybody to come on until we know what we are and what we're doing, what we're allowed to do. I see cities, when Peg and I wrote up that public arts policy, we did a lot of research on other cities. It wasn't, you know, we used a lot of boilerplates of public arts policies. It wasn't done blindly. It wasn't done like, let's throw some things together here.

And we talked to people. And we called people.

We talked to city administrators, arts commissioners. We did a lot of research beyond just writing up a piece of paper. That's not what we did. But I think what's frustrating is to see these small towns have that piece of paper that we can't even get in front of the city to sign, look at, review, do anything with. The small towns are already doing it. They're well beyond us.

So what's actually the issue with getting the paper approved or getting the policy approved so that we can move forward? And I also want to say, and we keep talking about artists, I am a working artist here in Joliet and across the city of Chicago. I've been volunteering. I've been on this commission for a while. I've not been asked to do anything. I could volunteer my studio space, which is right outside of City Square. I could volunteer my time. I'm a teacher. I'll be off work tomorrow. It's my last day officially. But use me. You know, I'm here. I volunteer to be here to make things happen. And so if it's connecting with other artists or representing myself as an artist and being in those spaces and creating opportunity where there is programming that actually functions and you need a body. you know, I'm here. I will donate resources. I have a small stockpile of paint and cabinets and wood pieces, things that I can do with children if necessary. So I just think one way to get started is to get started. And if we have to apologize because we didn't do something out of, you know, because we didn't do it in order, then let's find out what that order is. But sometimes you just have to do

apologize versus waiting for approval and I'm there can I get I love that idea and I'm gonna so we can have what up to two commissioners more than two is considered an open meeting is that correct so if I can get down at you and Deb to meet at City Square with Luke and I to talk about how we can get artists down there and especially activating that smaller stage I'd love to do that

No problem.

Yeah, thank you So one of the simple questions that we asked a long time ago is we know $5,000 isn't going to buy us a couple of stamps on an envelope to do something here It doesn't go very far and we know that So I'll ask again whoever is that we're asking at the city because we do get a lot of we're waiting for the city's approval or the city this who do we need to ask if it's okay to go ahead and start fundraising ask for sponsors we had conversations of one of the conversations was doing something like the Joliet sign in their mural that's coming down now was who do we get to pay for that well there's a lot of sponsors here locally that could possibly pay to do that and would love to see their name at the bottom of that to say that we're part of the community and we've sponsored this. That got shot down. Where's the answer? We've been waiting for that since I've been on here. And that's been well before Ann or anybody here, really. I mean, why can't we get a simple answer to say, activate us? Let's get out there in the community and say, hey, we need to raise, I think, $5,000. We could probably get from a sponsor with a phone call, in my opinion. $5,000 is what we're living on for a grant right now, and there's nothing we can do with it.

Yeah. Luke isn't going to be happy with me with this, but I'm going to give him two weeks to come up with that answer and give it back to this group.

And, you know, I just want to go back to that. Thank you, Luke, and sorry. I was talking about communications earlier. It's so important. Now, you four will meet at City Center. and discuss what's going on, how does that come back to us? How does that come back to the commission so we know what's really going on?

How do we get that on the agenda?

And then I have an artist friend of mine that did some work for the Rialto's grand opening, and I had a conversation with her two nights ago. And she said, I didn't know that there were going to be other artists here and we could sell our art at this event. Well, as a commission member, I didn't know she was going to be there. As a friend, I knew she was going to be there.

Deb, do you mind turning your mic on?

I want to stop you real quick on that because I don't want this to be a Rialto discussion. I want this to be a communication discussion. So we as the Arts Commission, we should know what they're doing at the Rialto, what it has to do with art and displaying art and selling art at a public event. We don't have to know everything that the Rialto is doing. But I think that we need that communication so that we know where we're at as artists As an arts commission, we're not doing anything at all. And if Deb and Donna meet, we don't know anything else about that. And communication, communication, communication is so important to everybody. And it's what's going to bind us, not separate us. It's going to bind us together. And that's why I just want to keep... saying that I think communication between the Arts Commission and what's going on in the arts world within the city is so important. And that's why I even talked about, you know, with having somebody from the city council being involved with us so that they know what's going on, what our feelings are, what our hearts are as visitors to this, as people that are doing this for nothing, taking time out of our evenings and afternoons for dinner with our families and everything else. What are we doing this for? I mean, it just doesn't make any sense if we don't have that communication. Well, we should be.

We should be the commission that when something's happening like that at the Rialto, which was a problem, and yes, they were all told they could sell because I was the one who told them. So that was somebody that just didn't hear it. But I think that they should want to come to us to get the word out, and that's not it. They don't even know. You know, they don't. They don't even know we exist, and they should be like, oh, let's get that to the Arts Commission because they'll blast it out. We've talked about having social media so we can put out that the Arts Commission, hey, by the way, there's going to be artists live at the Rialto. There's going to be artists at this. We've been told we're not sure you can even have a social media page. You can do it through the city, which is buried. Nobody's going to go to the city and look for what's happening.

We did have that conversation, and if I may, can you put that on your list to find out about too? We asked a long time ago about having some kind of social media presence, a separate website, because the City of Joliet website has lots and lots of information about everything in Joliet. Artists don't find the possible grants that are out there for them personally. A lot of us put that on our own websites or our own social medias to let people know about. There's no central place for the local artist to get information without having to wade through how to pay your parking tickets, how to pay your gas bill or your electric bill or water bill or whatever bill it is. It's just too convoluted. We have to have something where people can get direct information from.

Personally, I don't go to websites if I'm looking for something, especially a city website. Too much stuff on it, too much time, too many times getting lost and having to go back to where you were and coming back to where you still haven't found what you're looking for. And that's really unfortunate. You're much better to go to a local organization I'll just throw out Chamber of Commerce for them. So if I go to a town, I'm looking for something, I'll go to their Chamber of Commerce, ask them what they recommend for a restaurant and arts, an art program, an art gallery, whatever. I was just down in Texas, and I explored the art down there quite a bit. There's so much to do down there. Part of Texas in the arts, but I didn't go to the city of Plano or the city of Dallas Website one bit because I know that if I went in there to try to find this stuff And that's why it's so important for us to have some way of being out in the public and keeping communications open with everybody around the city here knowing what we're doing and And right now, we're done doing anything. So I can't say. Nothing to communicate.

Can I ask a clarifying question about the website? When that question was asked, was it to be a private, I say private, but like a separate, complete website, not part of the city of Joliet, but you were talking about like, because municipalities' websites are not easy to navigate, like you said, any of them. So was the recommendation to actually have like a

separate and almost like privately funded but that was Arts Commission no not necessarily it was supposed to be it was just supposed to be you know we're a recommending body to the city of Joliet so if we're gonna leave and start our own organization we're not gonna ask the city to create a website for us I think the idea was just to separate that portion of the city website. Could be a social media page. Yeah, a social media page. Simple as that to say the Joliet City Arts Commission is announcing that the L&A Arts Council has grants available for artists doing this or that or here's a project we're working on or communication directly with the artists and I can tell you when I came on I asked a lot of the board members of the commissioners that were on here before why did you leave so soon nothing was getting done Second part of that is how is the Arts Commission viewed? How do people view it? And by that, I mean the arts community. A lot of the arts communities kind of ticked off at the Arts Council Commission because we're not doing anything. So how do we get that communications out to people? easy here's where you find grants here's where you find the things that we're doing engage them without not we're not looking to become our own entity under the city the first time that that was suggested here

We were told, well, we'll just have it put on the city page. It would be a little button. And there was an actual start to do it, and then all of a sudden it was like, no, no. And no reasoning, just no.

We get that a lot. Where did the no come from?

Well, it came from our liaison from the city council. Ray? Right. Well, it wasn't Ray at the time.

One more thing. Can I ask a question that maybe goes to you, Ann? Sure. Since. All right. I'm looking at something, and I'm just looking for just a communication thing. This is on a... I believe on the city's website. Day of issue, March 12th. The city of Joliet and the Joliet Latino Economic Development Associates, LIDA, are ecstatic to announce a request for proposals to local professional artists to design original public art for Route 66 theme benches in Joliet. The focus of this RFP is for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Route 66. Due date, March 18th. The artists will get $2,000 stipend. Why didn't we hear this, about this?

So I did actually provide an update at the last meeting that we were going to be doing that.

Okay.

we were going to be working to identify two benches one in city square and one at a different location but it was it was in my report back it wasn't sent out it was a and i had mentioned it because it was a very quick turnaround we found out that we had received grant money to do that and had only a couple of weeks to identify who those artists might be. So I believe that I brought it up in the meeting as this is an opportunity that we have, but I didn't have the ability to have it go through the Arts Commission to actually select the artist.

Two questions.

The results could have been, you know, we're just, you're hearing what we're asking.

Oh, yes, absolutely.

I don't need to keep pounding on the dead horse.

It's because we're not visible. It's just we're not visible. So who do we talk to about this website so we can just do it? You know, we've just sat quiet and let people say no or come up with ideas that go nowhere. So now we have to be more bold. Do I need to go into a meeting and a city, like, because I haven't been to a city council meeting, do I need to go to a meeting and say words? I'm sorry, I'm just not afraid. I'm just at the point where it's like... Like with Ron, like we're just kind of spinning. So let's stop spinning and be bold.

Maybe we should have a – I know we used to have the Joliet Arts Movement or something that used to be a nonprofit that, you know, maybe they can – I don't know if you can partner with them somehow. I mean, most of those members didn't care for us, but – you know they're nonprofit then you know they come up with an idea they're artists so they talk a lot and then they come up with something they can get a sponsor and we can just help get the word out and work with them it'd be nice I don't know if that's the solution but there's there's a lot of artists locally and they're very vocal about having local artists you know be involved you know maybe we can do something like that the plane Plainfield has an arts group yeah and their next meeting and they are inviting anybody who wants to attend is June 4th at

What's the brewery something works? Brewery in Plainfield at like 7 p.m. And I did join it and I haven't gone to a meeting because I've been gone But I do intend on trying to go if anybody wants to go because they're getting stuff done.

Yeah

And if we can't get it done, I'm going to move to the next town.

Are they on advisory board to Plainfield City Council? Or are they separate? Because I think it's the connection to the city that's stymied us. I agree.

I think. Well, and their mayor is very much pro-arts. Well, and there's another point. Ours is too, but we've got much more going on.

I think there seems to be a big worry about, and it came out right now, we'd like to have some kind of presence on social media. Well, is it going to be separate, or are we still going to have control? Is the city going to have control over that? And I think that's what we keep running into. We're asking questions, and we keep getting, well, the city has to approve it, the city has to do this, and we're kind of in what I call analysis paralysis. We're not moving. The other part of that is when you own a business, you hire people that can do the job and let them do their job, and we're those people. And we're not allowed to do any of this stuff. That's the biggest part is every time we come up with something, it either gets forgotten, overlooked. We'll get to it. It's got to go through channels. And then it's just gone. So I'd rather meet with you guys for dinner.

Can I provide some answers, Ron? Go ahead.

So I appreciate, and I'm trying to let the conversation go because I like everything coming out of it. But if any of you know me, you know that I want to take from what you're saying and make actionable items off of it. So going back to what you were saying, we will set up a meeting with our communications director and talk to her about what we can do to get that to happen. And we'll set that up. And I'm trying to kind of interject without not keeping it going, but I do want actionable items to come out of this. Some of these things, yes, I know you have told me in the past, but some of them I'm finding out for for the first time. So please, let's continue this conversation. If there are other things that we want to do, I'm making a list. I'm sending an email to Luke as we're talking, and I'm sure he's taking notes too. Let's set up this meeting. Let's do this so that we can actually do some action items from now.

Can Ron be involved in that meeting?

Absolutely. Well, I was going to ask if anyone else for website, if anyone else wanted to be part of that. Yeah. Well, you definitely. Ron?

I'm in.

OK. All right.

I think from what I remember about the social media was almost more important than the website. But we were told by Ray that anything that we would have to do It would have to go through the city and then be approved before it could be put onto a social media site, which is understandable because then anybody could get on it and do or say whatever they want. So from what my recollection is, that was the hurdle that we had come to, but we never were able to jump.

What I remember is we were told that we couldn't do it because, like, sanitation doesn't have their own social media page, you know, and neither does the police. But the police do, you know. It didn't make a lot of sense that we're fine, I think, having the city approve it, putting the things out, but we need to be able to get it out there and then share it.

No, happy to have that conversation. I was able to transition the Bicentennial Park Facebook page to the special events Facebook page because there was a Bicentennial Park one that was kind of out there, and we did want to get things out specifically about events because I 100% agree with you. A City of Joliet Facebook page encompasses a lot of different things, and it gets lost in the middle of it. So we did transition that over to special events.

I think what might change my mind and maybe other people's mind is we now have a list of actionable items. When is it going to take action? We've been saying this before you guys came along. Again, not personal attack, but we've been talking about this stuff for so long and nothing happens. How soon can we get answers on? The long list of things that we just said can we get an answer on two weeks two things three things four things? Yeah, literally before before the next meeting before the next meeting and please understand that if the meeting gets cancelled for another two months and We still want the answers. We still want the answers. So, I mean, in 30 days, we should be able to have an answer to all these questions that we've asked here. And I think that might change some minds here, in my opinion. It certainly would change my mind. Thanks for listening.

Yeah. I want to make sure that I have this, because the priorities that Luke and I talked about were the public art ordinance or public art policy. That is the number one priority. And Luke is aware of that and going to be following up with you to do that. artist registry working with Deb and then we can identify if there's anyone else who wants to be part of that mural registry those were the ones that I had communicated I think in January when I kind of gave my overview of it in addition to that we can figure out about social media presence we'll set up a meeting with Sydney and then we'll also make sure that we're getting report outs from and better communication from our colleagues like for example from Becky for grants and Jane for comprehensive plan. And I think just making sure that we get that information and communicate it out. I'm not sure what the, and I'm going to say policy or procedure is. I mean, I know we can probably email you as often as we can. But I think we'll just make a more conscious effort to that when we actually have things coming up to send them out. I feel like I'm... Always a step behind, but I'm finally getting there with Luke and then with Charlene Boyd, who's our special event manager. I now have a staff that can help kind of get that word out too. Am I missing priorities or also Luke, I want to give you the space to kind of say, I know you and I talked about things and I know you were coming up with some priorities too. Am I missing anything for right now? I'm sorry. I also forgot about meeting at city square to talk about activating city square as part of kind of the artists.

Does anybody else from the commission have anything else before we move on? We've been on this for over 40 minutes now.

I think they heard us.

Do you want to add anything to it before we move on?

Well, you know, Ann made a good comment of just saying, you know, the initiatives that we're doing and, you know, I just passed my month of being here. So I definitely appreciate all these items and, you know, I am working towards it. You know, I wish I was a magician and come in and fix all the problems within the first month of being here. But going through the onboarding process and everything like that, I do know that a lot of this stuff did come up in our individual meetings that I had with each of you. So it's not necessarily new to me that you guys are saying this. But I do like the idea of having a running task list of items that are very important to the Arts Commission and then providing those updates and details. I think that's where my position comes in to help kind of alleviate some of those concerning thoughts of just having that lack of communication. So I'm here to help with kind of bridging that gap That makes sense.

It takes a good year to get used to your jobs.

Oh, there'll be a lot of stuff And so and I hope I mean so when when I got onboarded and I'm gonna say fought for the position that Luke now has because it was a new position and if any of you heard City Council and So Luke's position I created specifically to do special event permitting, because that needs to become a lot more navigable for us to be able to do anything here in the city of Joliet, and then be a designated liaison for the Arts Commission. because the feedback i heard from you and that i saw for myself is we have had some really we've had really great city staff be liaisons but it wasn't their dedicated thing to do so i think by making that literally when we interviewed luke that was part of the questions that we asked him about what he could do for that it's now his actual part of his responsibilities to do it as well so hopefully that will help moving forward

We're encouraged. We're encouraged.

So next thing on the agenda is the murals at Hufford and Gompers. This is on staff comments.

Yes, so I... Real quick about it, John Simpson, you helped us with getting some artists. And we provided those to Dr. Rousey with the District 86. They have the murals for Gompers Junior High and Hufford Junior High. She thanked us for getting those artists and information over. I'm not sure if you have any other updates that you've created.

No, they're going to handle it themselves. So, I mean, for those that don't know, they're building two new buildings, and there's two new gymnasiums. One's Hufford, one's Gompers, and there's a gymnasium that's the whole wall. They want murals on. Dr. Rouse was an original Arts Commission member. She just reached out to me because I saw her in an event, and yeah. They want to try to do a mural this summer at Gompers, next summer at Hufford, because they have to tear another building down to do that. So my understanding is they have, I believe it's under $25,000 or $30,000. They don't have to go RFP. There was some discussion about us being involved in the RFP, but I think they want to involve their kids. They want to involve the community that each school is involved in. So really, I had an initial conversation. you know i think i centered on his name and a few others and i mentioned it that councilman caesar since it's his district and where it's gone from that you know i pretty much got you know said thank you very much we'll handle it so they're handling it so I'm not sure where it stands.

I do think it would be a good opportunity for us to have some involvement, even if it's just to show up and pick up a paintbrush and help. I mean, I just think it would be good. for us to be out there and be...

I'll keep in contact with Dr. Rousey and see if there's any opportunities for us, for the Arts Commission to be involved. And try to give some updates as I get them for that specific...

I did, for whatever it's worth, I did hear artist Rojo Garcia, who's pretty, you know, he went to Gompers. So for whatever that's worth. I haven't, you know, had an initial meeting with them and that's really the only time I've had any discussion with them. So I started to want to reach out individually because I can't do more than one, I mean, about it. And then they took it over. It's going to be happening. They're going to want local artists to participate somehow. How that's happening, I'm not sure. They want the kids to do it. But it's a big area. It's maybe 200 feet long and 20 feet high or something.

Let's put the kids at the top.

Yeah. All right. That's all I know about it.

Anything else on that? No. A discussion of new art submission guidelines.

So not to keep reiterating me just starting, but we were able to go over the guidelines and information that we have. So I am still in the process of looking through the public art submission guidelines, which would outline city's process for maybe a permitting process, placing and supporting of public art. So we're still in the process for that. I'm to continue just the staff report because it has more information towards the end that I can give more details on that public art guidelines I am also conducting a cultural asset review this is essentially Reviewing all of the art sculptures murals that we have in the city of Joliet I did have a good conversation with Dante Dipertolo if you know who that name is He actually was able to provide me with a a 65 page Microsoft Word document with all the murals sculptures and the current condition of each of them and So since it's 65 pages, I'm on page like two. There's a lot to go through, but it's really interesting because what I want to do is take that and actually go to each of the murals, sculptures, and do somewhat of an evaluation myself. get updated pictures on it. I know he mentioned he's planning on doing it again this year, going through the whole list, giving an update to try to understand what conditions each of the murals, each of the sculptures are in, and what type of work would be needed to help get it back into working order.

We put that together.

That was us. It's very extensive, and it's good work.

the people on the council went out and took the pictures and touched the murals and figured out the substrate and You don't have to do it on your own. That's a job. I mean, here's the lame duck talking Hey, you know what I gotta pass off some of this Well, no, at least we would be in the community and doing something Oh

So I'm getting adapted. I'm getting acclimated to all of that information. And then in regards to the artist registry, in my talks with Dante, I also mention to him if he has any artists or people that he knows so that I can start creating an Excel list. You know, with emails, contact information, stuff that makes it easier for us to reach out when we do have, you know, that art project or whatever that's coming up. That gives us that easy mode of communication that I can just send a wide email, hey, we're looking for proposals for X, Y, and Z. If you know anybody, if you can submit something. So that's the whole idea behind also the arts registry. It gives us that document of contact information. So that's all stuff that I've been moving on and working on. So this, I think we've already kind of went through all the priorities. So the public art guidelines, mural registry, artist registry, and then, you know, As we talked about, I think you guys have that in your mind already, is the board governance and just what's strategic recruitment ideas, onboarding, and then engaging the commissioners. So all the stuff that you guys, when we were talking in person, individually, I was taking good notes.

have notes here you know my goal is to help work towards these and make make progress now you know move the needle as they say right speaking just just popped up here where are we I think our poet laureate expires at June or something there is it right

I believe end of June, beginning of July. I'm looking to figure out identifying funding for that and a process. And part of what we wanted to do was to potentially see if we could get a couple people to help us kind of revamp that. I'd love to hear feedback as well regarding the Poet Laureate program and what you guys felt worked and didn't work for it with Uxmar.

Oh, Ron probably knows better than me. I just thought it was a huge, huge success. I mean, especially from starting from where we started, which is nothing. Thought it was good and if you if you've gone to any of his presentations You know, it's starting, you know, it's a good example of the grassroots You know engagement that can happen You know with support so

Go ahead.

Yeah, I think he's underpaid. Yeah. For all the things that he's done. I agree. You know, I know that you probably get a lot of pushback from people in the city that are, what do we need that for? We don't need that. But he's really engaged the community. He holds a monthly event at the museum for spoken word poetry and for acoustic guitars, songwriters. And he's at our place one day, Bicentennial Park the next day, and over in the Latino community the next day. And he, quick story, he got my wife writing poetry. She went to the first one that they did at our rock and roll museum, and she walked out of there very inspired. And she came back the next few meetings and wrote stuff had no clue that she had that in her She's a bookworm, but I never knew she could write.

He's done ten times the number of Whatever the minimum requirement was for for him to do per year, you know, he's supposed to do a handful you know, he's you know, so the next guy or girl will be Gal will be you know You know, they'll have a tough act to follow. So I think it was, you know, and I don't know how many of the council pay attention to it, but I think it went well. So it seems like a small price. You know, the perception that the city is engaging and caring about the poet laureates or the arts goes a long, long way for the small amount, the small stipend that he was paid. I think it reflects well in the public.

Can I ask a quick follow up on that? Because one of the ideas that I have been kind of thinking about is because he is scheduled to complete in June or July, if we have the ability to do so and if I can find money in my budget, what would you think about extending either six months or a year just while We identify what the mission of the art, you know, I think there's a lot of things that we want to redefine with the Arts Commission in general. And I, especially hearing from you, and I've heard from others, and I've seen firsthand that I think Uxmar has gone above and beyond what originally, and he's been a good representation. So that was one of the ideas I was thinking of as well.

I would say that you could extend him. I like the... the June expiration date. But I mean, you know, I would I would think you'd try to extend them, if that's possible, until you get all this other stuff figured out. Because June is the next meeting. In theory, we should have the applications and vote on it by next month. So if there's just a way to do it, keep us informed. But if there's a way to extend him somehow and see if he's up for it, I'd certainly hate to see it fall off.

I'll add that to my list, Luke.

And I really feel that that's a program that needs to be extended more than what it is. And it's also part of why social media for us is going to be so important so that we can expand it that way because who knows where he's at right now.

Nobody knows I recommend him being downtown Commission the city He is gonna be he so I think we actually have a follow-up meeting with him to talk to him about being part of the Official dedication on the 18th and also the opening celebration and on that note if you have any thoughts on You know artists performers ideas for either the dedication or for the opening celebration, please send them to me and I'm happy to include them. I will say that we did an open call for performers and people that were interested in Bicentennial Park and City Square that went over really well. This was something I think I did quite a few months ago. I think we have 168 people that signed up for it. And it was everything from people doing workouts, to people dancing, to concerts. So it's kind of an ongoing list that we have, but I'm always looking for ways to have people get added to that, and not just for music, for theater, for arts, other things too.

Has the programs, have you released what happened at the Bicentennial Park?

Concerts on the Hill? We're getting there.

Okay.

So just to continue real quickly my conversation there about expanding this, I don't see why we couldn't get him or someone, some poet laureate, to go other places than just downtown so we can have maybe something on the west side of Joliet where people wouldn't come downtown, but they'd need to find out what they're missing. So if you can go to even an open park, let's say, because I'm familiar with the American Legion, the park across the street from there where many people go, if you can do a night where you would have a poet laureate night out on the west side for people that are too afraid to come downtown but can actually get a taste of the culture that we're trying to push, I think there's a lot of ways that we could expand that whole program. So I just wanted to finish my...

Apologies, I didn't realize you weren't finished.

Thank you Any anything else any more discussion on this Do we have to do we have to have a vote on extending that?

Through the end of the year, let's say or that would be a recommendation from the Commission bring it up for a vote

what was it you said Donna let's just do it and ask for forgiveness later like the way you think I will he's got to get compensated right I need to identify in my budget and talk with him I think you know what we can do though is I you know maybe put the recommendation forward for me to pursue to see if I can do and asking unless of course you get a hold of somebody at the city that approves us getting sponsors and we can get it done quicker so we don't need any motion I don't believe so because it's not an official agenda item is that correct Katie so it's on my it is on my to-do list though which is probably better with that members comments the other thing I would like to say is thank you Peg

I've truly enjoyed getting to know you on the commission here. I respect your talents, your knowledge, your dedication to the city of Joliet, to the Arts Commission, to everything that we have going on, and hopefully you may rethink and want to come back and join us again, because I think losing you on the commission is going to be painful for us for a while until we can find somebody to replace someone with so much knowledge.

Thank you, Tom. Everyone's replaceable. But I would like to say I'm so proud of the work that we did, looking at the sculptures and looking at the murals and developing that document. We were so excited then. That was our first big job. And we just went out there and drove our cars all around town and did a good thing. So I'm real proud of that. I'm also super proud of the start we had on the policy. I think we worked well together. It's a good start, and I'm excited that hopefully it gets settled. I enjoyed doing the research and the finalization of the Xi Zhechen sculpture. Even though it wasn't my favorite of all the ones that were there, I'm so glad it's there. Those are the things that I take with me. It's really neat. Life takes us in different directions, but I might not be here, but I'll be around, for sure. For sure.

Anybody else? No public comments, so do we have a motion to adjourn?

Make a motion.

Second.

Ron, Deb, thank you, everybody. Final vote? Oh, yeah, final vote.

All in favor, aye. Aye. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you.